This post will be a little depressing to some of you, so you might want to
read
it with a friend - and then wonder why prices might be a little higher at
Sears.
I was at the Sears Hardware in Alsip, IL last week, checking out at the
register.
This big kid in a winter parka sauntered in and started crusing the tool
aisles,
up and down, up and down. One of the older male employees called for help,
but all they would do was stand a couple of aisles away with their backs to
the
kid. It was pretty obvious what was happening. The next day I went in for
something or other and asked the old guy if what I thought I was seeing was
what was really happening, and he said, yeah, on a daily basis. Many of the
Sears Hardware stores are going under. They're staffed with a skeleton crew
of mimimum wage employees whose only self-defense training is for punching
themselves in the chest to get the pacemaker going again, so they aren't
going to run out the door to tackle the guys. So if you want to add to your
tool collection, come over to Sears Hardware. It's open season.

Sounds familiar. In the tool department of the local Sears (we had a killer
Sears hardware, but it was closed) all the employees are either under 20 or
over 60. The young guys give you blank stares, the old guys talk about where
stuff was in the '70s, but can't find anything now.

I still shop Sears for many hand tools, so it pains me to see this in this
condition. I wish for the good old days again, where you could buy outboard
motors, metal-turning lathes, car parts, and guns.

GTO(John)

GTO(John)